Perfect Illusion
by Lady Callista
Summary: When Sasuke is spotted near Konoha, Sakura takes off after him alone, hoping to convince him to come back. Either with words or with her fists. Or possibly with her lips. Sasuke/Sakura. Pre-Shippuuden.
1. Found

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor any of its characters. Although I do own a cool Sakura cosplay, three very sharp shiruken, and way too many DVD's. I am making no money for this, and no copywrite infringement is intended.

Author's Note: My muse just won't let me finish either of my in-progress stories, so here is yet another new one. I keep hoping that if I do what she wants she'll let me start writing my Bleach series again. This is basically an excuse for a Sakura/Sasuke lemon, because I was challenged a while back to find a way to do a shorter story with them that was a lemon and still kept them in-character. I hadn't considered writing Naruto at the time, but apparently my muse had other ideas. Please enjoy, and tell me what you think. The second and last part should be out in a few days. This is set a few months before the start of Shippuuden.

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><p><span>Perfect Illusion<span>

By Lady Callista

Chapter 1: Found

_OoOoOoO_

_"Dreams die hard. We hold them in our hands long after they have turned to dust."_

_from "Dragonheart"_

_OoOoOoO_

"Tsunade-sama. Uchiha Sasuke has been spotted."

Sakura froze outside the partially open door to her teacher's office, quickly moving so that she couldn't be seen from inside. She muffled her gasp with a hand to her mouth, and strained her ears to hear the man in the office.

"When? Where?" Tsunade snapped out.

"About five miles outside of town." The man replied. "One of the far sentries saw him, but as per your standing order didn't try to engage him. The sentry came straight to ANBU headquarters, and I came here at once. Uchiha was moving along the main road from Suna, looking to be headed back to Orochimaru's territory. We're not sure why he came this way."

Without waiting to hear more, Sakura moved quietly back down the hallway, moving as quickly as she dared. She didn't want to draw attention to herself, but she knew that Tsunade would be sending out teams to capture or kill Sasuke as soon as she could get them organized.

But they wouldn't know exactly where to look, and Sakura thought that she might. The location the ANBU officer had described was only a few miles from a small clearing in the woods where Sasuke had always liked to go to meditate. She couldn't imagine why he would suddenly want to go there, but it seemed like a good place to start.

She wished Naruto was back, but he was still off training with the perverted old sage. She would have told him if he had been here, and the two of them would have gone off after Sasuke together. But there was no one else she wanted to tell. No one else she wanted to go with her. No one else she thought could convince Sasuke to return home.

_Not that I did such a great job convincing him not to leave. _Sakura thought as she walked rapidly through town towards the main gate, her tan cloak snapping in the cool winter breeze. But talking him into returning should be easier.

He had been gone for years, away from all his friends. He had to miss them, just like they all missed him. She hoped, anyway.

Or maybe he was strong enough now. Maybe he had achieved his goal, and was ready to come home. Maybe he just didn't know if he would be welcome.

Although Sakura didn't think that was likely, she had kept up hope for so long. And now he was so close. If she could just see him, talk to him…

"Sakura-san."

Rock Lee's voice pulled her out of her thoughts, and although she hissed internally at the distraction she stopped and plastered a smile on her face as she turned to look at him. "Lee-kun, how are you?"

"I'm good, Sakura-san. I just finished running around the town five hundred times, and after lunch I'm planning on training even more!"

Sakura sighed as the overly-enthusiastic shinobi struck a dramatic pose. "That's, uh, that's nice. I was just heading out to do some training myself."

"Well, I will join you as soon as I finish eating." Lee declared. "My youthful energy will be so high that I'm sure we…"

"Umm, I really just want to train by myself today." Sakura said quickly even as she began backing away.

Lee fell into step beside her as she continued to move towards the main gate. "But you haven't been training with people lately, and Gai-sensei always says that…"

"Look, uh…" Sakura tried to think of a way to get him to leave, then realized that telling someone where she was going might not be a bad idea. Although she had gotten a lot stronger over the past two years, Sasuke likely had as well, and she wasn't sure she was strong enough to defeat him and drag him home on her own. She wanted to try first, and try alone, to talk him into it, but if that didn't work and there was a fight… "After you have lunch, do five hundred push-ups, then meet-up with me." She gave him directions to the clearing where she hoped to find Sasuke.

Lee agreed enthusiastically, and took off at a run.

Giving up on being discreet, Sakura broke into a run as well, trying to make up for the time she had lost. Even is Sasuke was going where she hoped, he might not stay long.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

Sakura came to a halt high in a tree overlooking the clearing, crouching down on a thick branch as she cast her eyes around hopefully.

She found him immediately, a dark figure seated on the cold snow in the middle of the clearing. Before she could even think about what to do next, which plan that she had come up with on her run out here to use, she heard his voice.

"Sakura." He didn't even look her way, and his tone of voice was as cold as the air around them. "Should I be expecting Naruto as well?"

"Just me." Sakura said softly as she leapt down to stand behind him.

He was on his feet in an instant, spinning around to face her. His face was a cold as his voice.

"I knew it was a mistake to stop here." Sasuke said flatly. "Just go home and forget you saw me."

"I can't do that." Sakura said with determination. If he still thought her the weak, besotted child he had left behind he had another thing coming. "Tsunade-sama knows you're around. Teams are already out looking for you. But I wanted to be the one to bring you home."

Sasuke snorted derisively. "I'm not going back to Konoha."

"We miss you Sasuke-kun." Sakura said softly, taking a step forward. "I miss you. I think I understand now why you left, why you felt you had to leave, but just come home. Please."

"Konoha is not my home." Sasuke said impassively. "Just leave me be."

Sakura's feelings switched to fury in a heartbeat as he turned his back on her and began to walk away. Rapidly gathering chakra into her hand, Sakura fisted it and punched at an angle towards the ground.

Sasuke jumped aside as the ground beneath him trembled, then broke open. He spun to face Sakura, surprise on his face. "That's Tsunade's attack."

"I've been training, Sasuke-kun. Just like you left to do. Only I didn't leave." Sakura snapped. "I didn't leave behind all my friends. I didn't betray everyone who loves me. Come back! You can get stronger in Konoha as easily as you can anywhere else."

"I'm not going back." Sasuke replied, his face once again blank. Then a corner of his mouth twitched slightly. "And although it sounds childish to say, you can't make me."

"The only way you're leaving is if you kill me." Sakura challenged as she gathered chakra into her fist again.

His eyes sparked, and lightning began to crackle in his hand.

OoOoOoOoOoO

"Two-hundred. One hundred ninety-nine. One hundred ninety-eight. One hun…"

"Lee, what are you doing?" Tenten asked as she walked into the clearing where Team Gai still often practiced, and found her enthusiastic teammate in a handstand, doing inverted push-ups. Which wasn't unusual but, "Why are you counting _down_?"

Lee flipped to his feet. "Sakura-san said that once I finished lunch, I should do 500 push-ups, and then Sakura-san and I…

"You've seen Sakura?" Neji suddenly popped into the clearing. His face was blank as always, but there was both urgency and worry in his voice.

Tenten took a step towards him, one hand automatically going to one of her weapon's scrolls. "Neji, what's wrong?"

"Uchiha Sasuke was sighted a few miles from here." Neji said without preamble. "The Hokage is organizing teams to go after him, and for the first time she's authorized them to kill if they cannot capture."

Tenten gaped at him for a second, then spun to face Lee. "Do you think Sakura-chan…"

"She was really in a rush." Rock Lee cut her off. "At first she didn't want to train with me at all, but then she seemed to think of something, and she told me to have lunch and do five hundred push-ups, and then I could go meet her to train."

"Where?" Neji snapped.

"She gave me directions to a place, but why would…"

"Because she thinks she knows where he'll go and she's going after him." Tenten realized at once, immediately terrified for her friend. Sakura had grown a great deal as a kunoichi in the past few years, but Sasuke had always been exceptional, and there was no way of knowing how much stronger he had become.

Lee's voice was almost a whine. "I still don't see why…"

"Because she doesn't think she'll win." Neji said at once, glancing quickly at Tenten. At her determined nod, he automatically checked his weapon's pouch even as he saw her doing the same. "Lee, lead us to the place."

To his credit, Lee didn't go into a spiel about how of course Sakura would win. He didn't go into a stupid pose, or argue that he hadn't finished his push-ups.

His old team following behind him, Rock Lee took to the trees.

OoOoOoOoOoO

The once peaceful clearing was in ruins.

Dozens of trees lay on the ground, some still smoldering. Huge patches of earth were ruined, some by rock protruding feet above the ground, others with gaping holes deep enough to reach below the frost-line.

Breathing heavily, her chakra nearly gone, Sakura let out a grunt of pain as Sasuke slammed her body back into a tree. His one hand pinned hers over her head, and without chakra she wasn't strong enough to break away. His body trapped her own, his hips and chest shoved against her to keep her from moving.

Yet the hand posed for a deadly attack to her throat did not strike.

Something went through his eyes that Sakura couldn't understand, and he dropped her hands and took a small step back. "You're not going to win, Sakura. Go home and give up your silly dream of saving me."

Panting, Sakura reached out and fisted her hands in his shirt. "Come with me." And before she could second guess herself she pulled him back against her body and kissed him. It was brief, and hard, and full of years of pent-up longing and frustration. "I love you."

Sakura pulled back and opened her eyes, staring into red and black eyes that were wide with shock. And something else that made her heart leap.

She felt his chakra flair, and before she could react, or even figure out what he was doing, she felt the edges of her world starting to turn grey. Then the world went completely black, and she passed out.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Sakura came to consciousness slowly, although years of training kept her from opening her eyes. Her aching body remained still and her breathing even as she tried to remember what had happened.

She remembered fighting with Sasuke, and kissing him, and then nothing else.

She felt her cloak spread beneath her and around her, and from the hardness under it she was laying on a wooden floor. She heard the crackle of a fire, and sensed the chakra of another person. The instant she recognized the presence, every muscle in her body tensed.

"I know you're awake."

Sakura let her eyes slid open, quickly taking in her surroundings. She was laying on the floor of a small wooden hut, which was completely empty except for some wood stacked by a small corner fireplace.

Sasuke sat no more than four feet from her, propped against the wall with his sword resting across his lap. His black cloak was missing, and belatedly Sakura realized that she wasn't just wrapped in her cloak; she was laying on her own and his was covering her.

His arms were bare, as were his feet, and she saw his long gloves and boots laying on the floor by the fire.

"Where are we?" Her voice was calm, although inside she was trembling. She had expected to wake up alone in the forest where they had been fighting, or not wake up at all.

"A cabin not far from the clearing. I used to stay here sometimes." Sasuke said in a flat voice, tilting his face to catch her fully with his intense dark eyes. "How can you mean what you said?"

Sakura knew immediately what he meant, and smiled slightly as she sat up slowly, being careful not to make any sudden moves. "Because it's true." She said softly. "You may have been gone for over two years, but that doesn't change anything for me."

"How can it not?" Sasuke's voice was still emotionless, but she could see feelings flitting through his eyes. "I left you. I betrayed you. I almost killed Naruto."

Sakura still felt the pain his actions had caused her, but she was so much stronger than the little girl who had begged him to take her with him. "But you didn't kill him. You could have, but you didn't. I don't think you _could _kill him, or me. It's why I wanted to be the one to come after you, Sasuke-kun. There was always something special between the three of us, and Naruto is gone right now, so that made it my job. We promised each other that we would never give up on you. Never."

"I'm not the boy who left you, Sakura." Sasuke's voice was beginning to thaw, but he sounded more resigned than anything else. "And I was _never_ the boy you thought I was, never the boy you wanted me to be. You can say you love me, but you don't _know_ me. You don't know what I've done, what I've become…"

"I know you're stronger than me. I know you could have killed me during our fight. Instead you brought me here, and you're talking to me." Sakura said softly as she moved closer to him. She ignored the way his hand clenched on the hilt of his sword, and simply scooted over until she sat against the wall beside him. "You put your cloak over me so I wouldn't be cold, and when I… when I kissed you I saw something other than hate move through your eyes. I may not know what you've done, I may not understand what's driving you, but I know your heart."

"Sakura…" There was pain in his voice, and his gaze shifted to the fire. "It doesn't matter if my heart holds more than hate, because the hate is what I have to listen to. My entire life, I lived for only one thing. Revenge. Nothing else was supposed to matter to me, not until my brother was dead."

Sakura pondered his phrasing. _If my heart holds… Was supposed to matter… _"What else does your heart hold? What else matters?"

Without looking at her, his hand reached out to cover her own. "You know the answer to that."

"Sasuke-kun." She knew her hand trembled as she turned it over to clasp his. "You can still come home. You can still train, and get stronger, and… and if you really need to kill your brother, I'll go with you. You know Naruto will as well. You don't have to be alone."

"I was always alone." Sasuke said softly. "I never wanted to get close to anyone, because I knew I would just be leaving some day. But you and Naruto… you just wouldn't let me be. You drew me in, and you heaped all these feelings on me, and you expected me to be able to survive them…."

"You did survive them." Sakura said gently, moving her other hand so that his was held between her own. "You were happy with us."

"And that's why I had to leave." Sasuke whispered. "If I had stayed with you any longer, I wouldn't have been able to leave. I would have betrayed the memory of my family. I would have forgotten that I only live to avenge them. When you tried to stop me, you don't know how close you came to… How much harder you made it…"

"Sasuke-kun…" Sakura whispered when he trailed off, then felt her breath hitch when his head whipped around to face her, a dozen emotions playing across his face.

"I barely managed to leave you once." His voice was so low she actually leaned closer to him to hear it, and he took a sudden deep breath as the scent of her seemed to wrap around him. "I don't know if I can do it again."

"Then don't." Her eyes were huge, and only her willpower was keeping them from filling with tears. She could feel the battle within him, and knew this was the turning point. If he said no this time it would be final. "Stay with me, please."

TBC….


	2. Lost

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor any of its characters. Although I do own a Sakura cosplay that is currently being remade because of my cosplay-nazi friend, three very sharp shiruken, and way too many DVD's. I am making no money for this, and no copywrite infringement is intended.

Author's Note: This story has become more than just an answer to a challenge for me now; I'm actually planning a cosplay photo shoot around it. Although keeping said shoot PG-13 will involve some interesting camera angles… and leaving some things out entirely, lol. That said, lemon warning. (Oh, and it should be obvious, but the italic parts written in first person near the end are Sakura's thoughts.) Please read through to the end before you tell me I failed at keeping them in-character. And then _please_ don't kill me or flame me.

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><p><span>Perfect Illusion<span>

By Lady Callista

Chapter 2: Lost

_OoOoOoO_

"_That farewell kiss which resembles greeting, that last glance of love which becomes the sharpest pang of sorrow."_

_-George Eliot_

_OoOoOoO_

"I barely managed to leave you once." His voice was so low she actually leaned closer to him to hear it, and he took a sudden deep breath as the scent of her seemed to wrap around him. "I don't know if I can do it again."

"Then don't." Her eyes were huge, and only her willpower was keeping them from filling with tears. She could feel the battle within him, and knew this was the turning point. If he said no this time it would be final. "Stay with me, please."

"Sakura." His voice was a pained whisper, and the hand that wasn't gripped within her own lifted up, the backs of his fingers ghosting over her cheek.

Then he abruptly withdrew both of his hands from her, standing as if he was a puppet whose strings had suddenly been yanked. Sword once again clenched in his hands, Sasuke took a few steps towards the fire, staring down at it as if it could answer all the questions in the world if he only looked hard enough and long enough.

Sakura felt a single tear slide down her cheek as he turned his back on her, and her thoughts were already on a rapid downward spiral when she realized he had spoken.

"Say it again."

Sakura rose to her feet, trying to figure out if she had heard him right, and if so, what he had meant.

Then he spun back to face her, his face full of emotion. His eyes seemed to be pleading with her, and his voice was a desperate whisper. "No one but you has ever said it to me."

"I love you." Sakura's voice was strong, yet another few tears trailed down her cheek. In both his eyes and on his face she could almost see the lost little boy she had first fallen in love with. She took a step closer to him. "I love you, Sasuke-kun."

The sword clattered to the floor, and his eyes turned fierce as he practically stalked towards her.

Although Sakura couldn't stop her breathing from speeding up, or her eyes from growing wide, she refused to back away from him. Another tear slipped from her eye as he took her hands, and she was forcibly backed up until she hit the wall of the hut.

Sasuke pulled her hands slowly up over her head, watching her eyes as he pinned her to the wall in an echo of how he had held her against the tree earlier. He allowed his body to move in until it pressed against hers. "Even now, you're not afraid of me." His voice was an astonished whisper.

Sakura managed a tremulous smile. "I trust you. I know you won't hurt me, at least not physically." She couldn't stop her body from arching slightly into him, and she felt him tremble slightly in response.

Switching his hold on her to free one of his hands, Sasuke trailed his fingers lightly over a bruise already forming on her cheek, then over a slight puffiness in the corner of her mouth. "I already did."

Sakura blushed slightly as he touched her so intimately. "I kinda hit you first."

"Sakura…" He lightly brushed a tear from one of her cheeks.

"Stay with me." She whispered the words again as she looked into his eyes from only inches away. His eyes seemed to darken, and Sakura's eyes slid shut in misery, certain she had failed.

Then she felt the warmth of his lips lightly covering her own.

The kiss was brief, and Sakura's eyes flew open the instant he drew back. She couldn't believe this was real. Couldn't believe it was happening.

Sasuke's arms wrapped around her in a desperate hug, and it was with his mouth right beside her ear that he finally said the words she had been waiting a lifetime to hear. "I love you, Sakura."

Then his lips found hers again, and Sakura's once-shattered heart healed and filled to overflowing all at once.

Sakura gasped as her chest was crushed against Sasuke's hard body, and molten fire seemed to flow through her veins. One of his hands slid under her shirt, his open hand rubbing circles on the small of her back. The other gripped the nape of her neck, tilting her head to deepen the kiss even as he began to gently squeeze and release, each pulse sending the fire racing through her body again.

Sakura let her freed hands fall from the wall, sliding her arms around his shoulders to his back, cursing the gloves that prevented her from touching his skin but unwilling to break the kiss to remove them. One hand slid up into his hair while the other slid under the neck of his shirt, trailing down to rest over his racing heart.

Minutes felt like hours as they continued to kiss, and when they finally had to break apart for breath Sakura found herself trembling and dropped her forehead to his shoulder.

"God help me, but I can't leave you again." His words came softly in her ear as he began kissing her neck, making a frustrated sound as all too soon he hit the high collar of her shirt. His lips changed direction then, trailing back up her neck to nip lightly at her ear.

Sakura shuddered as he continued to kiss and nibble along her neck and jaw line, and removed her hands from his body just long enough to impatiently rip her gloves off and toss them to the floor. Then it was his turn to shudder as her warms hands trailed down over his bare chest, lightly tracing the definition of muscles he had put so much work into.

Sasuke's hands slid up and down her sides lightly, fingers kneading as they slowly slid around her until his fingertips began to trace arousing patterns up and down her lower spine underneath her shirt.

Their lips met again, more forcefully this time, and as they continued to kiss they slowly lowered themselves to the floor. Sasuke ended up kneeling with Sakura over him, her legs spread so that one knee rested on either side of his hips.

Sakura straddled him unselfconsciously, her hands moving seemingly of their own accord to push his shirt off his shoulders, allowing it to hang down his back.

Sasuke broke the kiss the minute he felt the cool air on his back. Breathing heavily, he leaned his head forward, only to jerk back uncertainly when he found his face suddenly in her chest.

Their eyes met for a moment, and although a light blush stained her cheeks Sakura raised her shaking fingers to the zipper at the top of her shirt, and began to slowly draw it down.

Sasuke reached up, putting one hand over hers to stop her even as the other cupped her cheek tenderly. His voice was a strained, breathless whisper as he asked, "Are you sure?"

"I've always been sure of you." Sakura whispered back as she pulled away from him enough to hold his face between her hands, her hands sliding slowly down to trace his neck even as one thumb rested over his lips.

He kissed her thumb, eyes locked on her own as he slowly drew it into his mouth. His hands resumed sliding up and down her sides, although this time he allowed them to trail lightly over her breasts as well.

Sakura arched into his hands as he touched her, and this time it was _his_ fingers that slowly began to draw down the zipper on the front of her shirt. Although she could feel a light blush staining her cheeks, his other hand slid inside the shirt to cup her even before he had finished unzipping, and the rush of heat the flowed through her body completely washed away any feelings of shyness or embarrassment. Her only thought was to curse the wraps around her chest that kept him from touching her fully.

As if he had just had the same thought, Sasuke's one hand slid down to the knot securing the bindings even as the fingers of his other hand teased one of her nipples to a peak.

Sakura let out a moan, arching back until he was forced to put one hand on her lower back to support her. The other hand left her body completely, and Sakura's eyes flew open in shock as he suddenly flipped them over and an instant later she felt the shock of cold metal against her stomach.

Laying flat on her back with Sasuke hovering over her, their lower bodies so close she could feel that he was already hard for her, Sakura felt her breath hitch as a razor-sharp kunai slid between her bindings and her skin, slowly moving up to slice the bindings. His touch was so expert that not the fainted scratch marred her fair skin, and the hand not holding the knife followed the trail of it up her stomach, setting her nerves on fire.

Gravity pulled the cloth away the instant he finished cutting and then his hands were on her breasts again, hands calloused from a lifetime of fighting scraping deliciously along her already sensitive skin. Then he bent down over her, mouth following the trial his hands had made, and Sakura lost her mind.

Her hands fell to her sides, fisting, trying to find something to hold onto as he pleasured her with hands and tongue and finally just an edge of teeth that impossibly raised the temperature of the fire coursing through her until she thought she might erupt. His hands swept down her arms, removing her elbow covers, and for an instant his hands gripped her own tightly before moving back to cruise along her trembling body.

She felt as if she was moving through water when she finally reached for him again, hands fumbling with the complicated and unfamiliar knot at his waist in the desire for more skin, more touch. His hands covered her own, making quick work of the knot, even as she returned her hands to his chest, his arms, glorying in the restrained strength she felt as he twitched under her touch.

When his lips returned to her own again, she reveled in his tenderness. The look in his eyes had warned her he was losing control, but despite the fierceness and possessiveness on his face his hands were gentle as the pulled her skirt away, leaving her clad in nothing but her tight black shorts.

His lips and hands continued to play over her tirelessly, relentlessly, and instead of moving through water Sakura now felt like she _was_ the water. Warm and fluid, flowing under him, reacting to every touch as her own thoughts were too scattered to do anything _but_ react. She had no defense against him, or against her own needs, but at the moment she hardly wanted one.

And when all their clothes were gone and his hand snaked between her legs, the water turned to a whirlpool of desires and needs. She cried out, shocked as the fire exploded out of her, pleasure coursing through every nerve of her body as her vision went white.

Her body quivering under him, his name fell from her lips in something between a whimper and a sob.

Shaking himself, nearly at the end of his control, Sasuke let his hips drop against her, rubbing against her to try and relieve some of his own tension. There was just enough of him left to think to whisper, "Are you… I mean, have you ever…"

Sakura mutely shook her head, not sure she was able of speaking as her body still shook with aftershocks. She worried for a second that he might be put off by that, but instead she saw a look of both pride and triumph in his eyes. It brought back enough of her to have her whispering back, "You?"

Sasuke shook his head, then kissed her gently even as one hand came up to cover her cheek. "There was never anyone but you in my head."

Their eyes locked for a second, and then they kissed again. As the kiss spun out, hands slid and glided again until bodies were aroused to the point of explosion.

And when he finally slid into her, the instant of pain was nothing compared to the complete feeling of rightness and perfection.

Bodies easily finding a rhythm as if it were their hundredth time instead their first, they moved together as their breathing quickened until their world shook and then exploded.

Minutes passed as they lay still locked together, breathing heavily, neither wanting to move.

Sasuke finally slid out of her with a sigh, reaching out to pull his traveling cloak over their rapidly cooling bodies.

"I love you so much." Sakura whispered as Sasuke rolled onto his back and she cuddled into his side, one hand absently tracing over his chest, still barely able to believe that this was real.

He wrapped both his arms around her, one gliding lazily up and down her back, and dropped a kiss onto her forehead. "I love you too, Sakura."

"I don't want to move from this spot." Sakura whispered as she tangled her legs up with his. "I just want this day to keep happening."

Sasuke chuckled. "Well, I know I don't have anywhere else to be." And he rolled them over until he was on top of her, and began to kiss her again.

OoOoOoOoOoO

"There she is!" Rock Lee exclaimed as the three shinobi landed in a clearing about ten miles from Konoha.

The three had followed the directions Sakura had given Lee, and were now very surprised to find her standing motionless with her back to a tree.

The broken and lightning-scarred trees, as well as the huge holes in the ground, proved that a fight had happened very recently, but at the moment there was no sign of Sasuke, if that was indeed who she had been fighting.

"Why is…"

Byakugan already activated in case Sasuke had been nearby, Neji saw the problem immediately. "She's caught in a genjutsu."

"Sakura." Neji put a hand on her shoulder, sending a directed pulse of chakra through her to break the illusion. "You were in a genjutsu. Was it Uchiha?"

Sakura flinched, eyes blinking rapidly as she came to. And immediately wished that she hadn't.

"Sasuke-kun…" Her voice came out in a whimper, and she collapsed to her knees as her entire body started to tremble.

"How long ago was he here?" Neji questioned without preamble.

_It was all a lie. An illusion. His confession of love. Us kissing, and him touching me, and…_

Sakura glanced at the shadow the tree cast on the ground. "It can't have been long. He was alone as far as I saw." She answered automatically, a lifetime of training allowing her to function despite her shattered heart. She crossed her arms over her chest, hands holding her own shoulders as she started to rock slightly back and forth.

_He kissed me, and told me how much he loves me. He wasn't going to leave again. I was going to have him back, and we could be together, and everything was right with the world, but…_

"Tenten, take care of her." Neji ordered, and upon receiving his teammate's nod he gestured to Lee and the two of them took off.

Tenten knelt down beside her friend as Neji and Lee took to the trees again, following Sasuke's tracks. She immediately pulled Sakura's traveling cloak from the ground and tossed it around the shivering girl. "What happened, Sakura-chan?"

"We were fighting, and at first I could hold my own against him, but barely." Sakura whispered. "I don't think he was really trying to kill me. I… I was trying to talk him into coming back. Telling him how much everyone missed him and all, you know?"

Tenten nodded her head.

"I told him that I still loved him." Sakura choked out the words as she began to cry, collapsing onto her friend's shoulder. "He said I should go home and stop being silly, and he turned to leave. I grabbed him and kissed him, and his chakra flared and I thought I passed out, and… and I guess the next thing real thing was you guys waking me up."

_But I thought I was with him for hours. I was finally with him! He was holding me, and loving me, and… How could he do this to me? He had to know this would be worse than anything else he could do. I thought I saw something other than ice in his eyes when I kissed him, but if he could do this…_

"But you're usually really good at breaking genjutsu." Tenten whispered as she held the younger kunoichi in her arms, not understanding the pain on her friend's face. "How did he catch you in one for so long?"

Sakura's eyes were haunted, and her chakra felt broken in a way Tenten didn't think she had ever felt before. Her lower lip trembled, and her tears started to fall even faster. "I didn't consider that it was an illusion. I didn't _want_ it to be."

"I don't understand." Tenten whispered, trying to concentrate on her friend even as part of her wished she was with her teammates trying to chase Sasuke down. Not that they were likely to catch him, but she wanted to try.

"It wasn't an illusion of pain or fear or torture. It…" Sakura's voice broke, and she barely managed to choke out the rest of the sentence. "It was of love."

_I can still feel his kiss... I can still feel his hands on me… I can still feel him inside of me…_

Every thought about anything other than the girl crying into her chest flew from Tenten's mind. She knew how she felt when she woke from dreams of being with the one she loved, and genjutsu felt so much more real than a dream. And at least the guy she loved was someone she saw all the time, someone she could still talk to, and be around, and maybe someday work up the courage to tell of her feelings.

Sakura hadn't seen Sasuke in years. He had left her, even though he knew how she felt about him. He had almost killed Naruto, and others of her friends as well, when they had tried to bring him back. Sakura had been living on hope alone for years.

And she had suddenly been given everything she wanted, everything she had ever dreamed of, and then found out that it had been an illusion.

"Sakura…did you…"

"He said he loved me." Sakura hiccupped as her body shook with sobs. "And he kissed me, and he touched me, and we made… we… But it…"

"But it wasn't real." Tenten whispered as a single sympathetic tear slid down her cheek even as her hatred of Uchiha Sasuke increased exponentially. There wasn't a single thing he could have done to Sakura that would have hurt her more. Even killing her would have been less painful.

Even as she held her friend and murmured soothing words, Tenten's mind was trying to come up with a suitable punishment for Uchiha. She wasn't sure there was one.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

"You ran into no one but Tsunade's student?" Orochimaru asked lightly. "She was your old teammate, I believe."

"No one else." Sasuke said without emotion. "And she was defeated. The mission was a success."

"Yet my other agents say she lives." Orochimaru hissed. "Are you still too weak of heart to kill her?"

"I thought it a more suitable punishment to let her live." Sasuke said quietly as he turned his back on the man he hated, leaving without being dismissed.

Although a tiny part of his heart and soul was screaming at him for what he had done, he knew it had been the only thing he _could _do.

It had been the perfect illusion, tailor-made to hurt her so much that she would never again want anything to do with him. After what he had done, there was no way Sakura would have the heart to chase after him.

And as he couldn't remain in Orochimaru's good graces if he kept running into her without killing her, this was the only way to keep her safe. _And_ to keep her away from him.

Even thinking about her was a distraction to what he had to do.

And so the tiny part of his heart that still felt anything other than hate was shoved into a dark corner, and he prepared to lock it away forever.

Although he did take a brief minute as he settled on his bed starring at the blank ceiling to regret what he had done. For before he could seal away that tiny part of his heart, it wished that the illusion he had made her see had been reality.

And he knew that it never would be.

A single, shining tear trailed down his cheek, and for a second he let himself feel something other that revenge and hate. He let himself regret. And love.

He could still taste her kiss.

Then he brushed the traitorous tear away and turned the lock.

THE END

* * *

><p>AN2: Sorry, but to keep them IC and with the cannon storyline they couldn't exactly have a happy ending. But I got to write my lemon! <em>Crosses fingers and ducks for cover. <em>Review, onegai?


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